Communicator used her abilities to make a difference in Santa Fe

Wise, a onetime reporter who later held roles as a communications official in government and as head of marketing and public relations at Santa Fe Community College, died Jan. 8 after a short illness.

She was 69.

She died less than a year and a half after her husband, former Santa Fe County Commissioner Ed Moreno, himself a former reporter for The Associated Press.

“The two of them were really a driving force in Santa Fe, to tell you the truth,” Drabanski said.

Wise was born in Detroit on Aug. 8, 1953. She moved to Albuquerque with her family in 1962.

Her sister, Lori Bradley, said Wise always had a knack for language.

“Our mother always read to us at night, and [Wise], you know, was a big reader. I think that’s why she was such a good writer,” Bradley said in an interview.

After graduating from Albuquerque’s Valley High School in 1971, Wise moved to Santa Fe. One of her earliest jobs was as a reporter for The New Mexican, where she met Drabanski.

“We were young reporters, and we all went to the same parties, knew the same people. We all became friends, and those friendships lasted throughout a lifetime,” Drabanski said.

Over the years, Wise worked as the deputy press secretary for former Gov. Bruce King and director of public information for the city. In 1984, she took a position at the College of Santa Fe’s marketing and administrative offices, where she worked for nearly 20 years.

Wise later got a job working for Santa Fe Community College and eventually became its executive director of marketing and public relations.

In 2013, she helped establish the Campus Cupboard food pantry, an initiative that allowed students to access food and other personal supplies for themselves and their families.

Rebecca Estrada, a longtime friend and former colleague, said Wise was inspired to start the cupboard after she heard about the rise of food insecurity among college-age students. When she learned it was also happening locally, she decided to do something to address the problem.

“She knew that there were these anecdotal stories about how families are sometimes making the choice between paying for classes and putting food on the table,” Estrada said. “She felt like it was a responsibility of the institution to work with local nonprofits or community-based organizations to figure out how they could meet that food insecurity for the students.”

Drabanski said the cupboard became a vital resource for students and their families over the years.

Wise also was key to creating new educational spaces at the school by helping organize bond measure campaigns to fund them. Those efforts included the Trades and Advanced Technology Center, the Santa Fe Higher Education Center and the Health and Sciences Center.

She retired from the college in 2017 and later enjoyed the many trails of Eldorado and the Galisteo Preserve.

Wise had a number of hobbies throughout her life, from hiking to horseback riding, her sister said. She was a music lover who played the French horn in high school. She also played piano. Bradley said her sister loved animals and board games, which she played with her loved ones not long before she died.

“She was a big Wordle fan,” Bradley said. “Just, like, last month she got the Wordle in one turn. Nobody gets it in one, but it happened to be her starting word. It was just amazing.”

Wise, whose memorial service was held Saturday, is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Talia and David Sledge; stepdaughter and son-in-law Robin and Robert Chadwick; stepdaughter Lisa Moreno; sister and brother-in-law Lori and George Bradley and four grandchildren.